Not often in New Albany, but imagining "what the world might look like if the people who designed it – politicians, planners, developers and architects – were more diverse."

OMG.

Mayor Jeff Gahan's pathological need for complete civic thought control has manifested itself in the form of institutional inbreeding in building and design.

A shockingly narrow (and yes, noticeably white-male-dominated) number of engineering, consulting and contracting companies increasingly are responsible for the city's design template, which appears to have been derived from frequent Bud Light Lime-soaked vacations at Disney World.

How we pay for it is another topic, for another time.

The same old inner circle suspects are contracted, and the same tithes magically appear in Gahan's exploding slush fund. The worst part of this isn't the shameless corruption, or the Dickeyesque complicity of the DemoDisneyDixiecratic Party.

It's the numbing uniformity of design results, and to make this point, consider that to this very day in a place like Italy, the eight-decade-old fascist architectural legacy is so glaringly obvious that visitors barely need to look twice before thinking, yep, that's a Mussolini building, all right.

New Albany is being designed to be New Gahania, and these principles of design emanate from the C-minus mind of a Babbitt-grade veneer salesman.

City Hall should be encouraging diversity in design, but alas, design monoculture better serves the interest of campaign finance, and so we're becoming a theme park --and this theme is dismally bland, indeed. Read this wonderful essay about diversity in design, and remember:

#FireGahan2019, and #FlushTheClique

What would cities look like if they were designed by mothers?, by Christine Murray (The Guardian)

Architecture’s lack of diversity shows in environments created by people who never need step-free access or to take a bus

 ... Lately I’ve found myself imagining what the world might look like if the people who designed it – politicians, planners, developers and architects – were more diverse. I don’t believe that men and women design differently, or that poverty and ethnicity inform architecture, but lived experience is a great teacher. The regeneration projects of the past decade are more about planters and cappuccinos than access to free drinking water, public toilets, cheap groceries and a post office. They appear to solve only the first-world problems of the monocultural illuminati who created them.

What would our cities be like if mothers had more of a role in designing them? There would be ramps everywhere, for a start. Schlepping a pushchair around makes you think differently about stairs. I cried when my nearest station was revamped without the inclusion of a lift. To stand at the bottom of that flight of steps with two kids and a newborn in a pram is to experience the kind of despair usually reserved for rat-infested dungeons. Any station or public building undergoing refurbishment should by law be made step-free.

But I’m unlikely to find many sympathisers among architects. According to a recent survey by the Architectural Review, 75% of women in architecture don’t have children. Most architecture graduates think they’re designing access ramps for the odd wheelchair, not every child under three ...

ON THE AVENUES: Taco Bell has as much to do with "local business" as Jeff Gahan does with "quality urban design principles."

ON THE AVENUES: Taco Bell has as much to do with "local" business as Jeff Gahan does with "quality urban design principles."

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Serendipity is the chief motivating factor behind all of human existence, and this fact might explain how I happened upon a film clip from a television series I never once watched.

Last week on Facebook, the proud owner of the newly plasticized Taco Bell perched precariously in a bulldozed flat spot halfway up a hillside that used to be delightfully wooded – just below the barren strip mine tableau up on top, which might yet boast a Rio-sized statue of Dear Leader grinning vacantly and C-student-like, hovering over us all – praised loyal New Albanians for supporting his “local business.”

Jeeebus, here we go again. Does anyone around here read? If you’re baffled by the onslaught of “fake news,” then look no further than the bathroom mirror, which reveals a human being desperately seeking self-delusion.

When the Gordita-bearer was lightly questioned, predictably vapid bilge came spilling out: it’s not a chain at all, because it’s a franchise, and the franchise is locally owned because it’s not a chain, and therefore, this Taco Bell is no different from Aladdin or Lady Tron’s.

By the same token, the Ford Fusion that I inherited from my mother, manufactured in Sonora, Mexico, magically becomes a “local” New Albanian automobile because I drive and operate it locally.

Uh huh.

Right.

It’s all so very tiring. You substitute money for creativity, buying a fully developed restaurant built and programmed by others. You cannot change the menu on whim by substituting Frito Bandito Hot Browns for Roadkill Chalupas, but you’re quite happy to reap the benefits from national advertising and sponsorship campaigns of the sort almost never available to indie innovators.

Yes, it’s true that you must have enough money to buy the franchise and sufficient moxie to run it, but I’m guessing that bankers are far more cooperative with franchise financing than start-ups from scratch, and of course the entire point of franchising is to adjust the risk factor inherent to start-ups by applying the sheer weight of huge pervasiveness.

It's ever harder to discuss matters like this without unleashing f-bombs. Franchisees like the strip mine Taco Bell mogul are almost as objectionable as those wealthy kids born on third base, convinced they hit a triple. It’s more like paying the umpire for a base on balls, trotting to first, and claiming to have been hit in the face by a pitch.

Note: Genuine independent local small business owners know exactly what being hit in the face by a pitch feels like; it's how we learn, daily, without a safety net from a multinational, making it doubly ironic that one redevelopment commission appointee loudly cheering this cookie cutter Taco Bell is the legitimate long-term owner of a local independent business.

Such is the busyness of sycophancy.

---

There’s another big difference between franchise accumulators and indie entrepreneurs, in that neither Aladdin nor Lady Tron’s have been selected as winners in City Hall’s subsidized strip mine development lottery, unlike the operator of the sleek and utterly non-unique “local” Taco Bell.

Taco Bell’s winning ticket casually rides piggyback, wearing flip-flops, on the backs of the stubborn property development coagulators Pat and Pam Kelley, who have relentlessly pursued a lifelong goal of paving every last square inch of their holdings, whether knob or valley, with the closest distance between these two points invariably measured by enhanced storm water runoff, even when their kinky desire to build a shiny profit-making city shitty on a hill was contested by the Dear Leader – and it was, at least for a while.

Then Scott Wood got waterboarded and the city collapsed into a puddle of cowardly avarice when the unmistakable odor of opportunism became too alluring to ignore, with Jeff “Dollar Sign” Gahan dispatching David “Bag Man” Duggins to broker a deal, and overnight, as though New Albany were standing in for Orwell’s decrepit Oceania, City Hall no longer sought to enforce rationality in development, but instead grandiosely announced its “partnership” in purposeful irrationality.

From that moment, when taxpayers footed the bill for a spanking new mountain-engineered road to reach the very Summit of the Kelleys’ insatiable greed, the Kelley/Gahan Loot-A-Thon became an indirect subsidy for multi-national hotel and fast food chains.

In turn, this helping hand from the mayoral picker of winners has emboldened the Taco Bell owner to proclaim he’s a local independent businessman, which is propaganda so shameless in its deception that neither Paul Joseph Goebbels nor Sarah Huckabee Sanders have shown any interest in furthering it.

At least Goebbels has the good taste to be dead. Shall we discuss the many high-wage jobs being generated by the subsidies granted to Summit Springs?

No? I thought as mush – make that “much,” but not “munch,” at least at a Taco Bell … ever. Local, my ass.

---

Near the end of the Irish ballad Carrickfergus, the singer comes to an epiphany: “But I'll sing no more now til I get a drink.”

That's what I'm saying, and I’ll write just a bit more before shuffling off to the liquor cabinet. At Governing, there’s a cautionary tale about the convergence of excessive economic development subsidies and worsening inequality.

Early this year, construction began on a $130 million luxury high-rise apartment building in St. Louis’ burgeoning Central West End neighborhood. The development will dramatically alter the area’s skyline, but the city won’t be reaping much tax revenue from it anytime soon. Local officials approved a 95 percent property tax abatement that will be in place for a decade, as well as an exemption from sales taxes on the construction costs of the project.

These tax breaks coincide with steep spending reductions St. Louis made last year to bridge a budget shortfall. They are contributing to concerns that many neighborhoods and lower-income residents in the city aren’t benefiting from the tax breaks enacted to encourage projects like the luxury apartment complex.

Many other localities aren’t all that different from St. Louis. Early evidence from newly released financial data suggests that local governments most heavily reliant on tax incentives tend to be those with greater levels of economic inequality.

In New Albany, greater levels of economic inequality have become a favored, risk-free platform for Democratic candidates, and accordingly, the city’s heavily sapped tax increment financing (TIF) areas are displaying an increasingly sickly pallor.

And, speaking of shambles, subsidies and the impending Reisz City Hall historic preservation project, Paul Cooper (at BBC) offers a fascinating explanation of how dictators exploit ruins: “(Saddam Hussein) followed Mussolini’s lead in appropriating ancient ruins to tell a flattering story about his own authoritarian regime.”

For Saddam, the ruined city of Babylon had always held a special fascination. He ordered an ambitious reconstruction of the city’s walls, costing millions of dollars at the height of the Iran-Iraq War. And he raised the walls to a historically-improbable 11.5m (38ft) high, drawing criticism from the international archaeological community, who accused him of turning Babylon into ‘Disney for a despot’. As a finishing touch, Saddam built an anachronistic Roman-style theatre in the ruins. When archaeologists told him that ancient kings like Nebuchadnezzar had stamped their names on Babylon’s bricks, Saddam insisted that his own name be stamped on the modern bricks used in the reconstruction. These efforts were later described by Provisional Coalition Leader Paul Bremer, who was the envoy to the new Iraqi government following Saddam’s fall in 2003, as “a travesty… ersatz monstrosities”.

Our own tin pot Disney despot duly follows in these narcissistic footsteps. From Taco Bell on the bald knob to a promiscuous proliferation of anchors, spiced by incessant attacks on the poor, not to exclude gentrified alleys, full contact karaoke and the only municipal water park in the world with an offshore safe deposit box to keep the financials from prying eyes … a million bucks to desecrate a Native American site with a dog park, and coming soon, quadruple the functionary space for city hall so as to facilitate seceding from Floyd County and actually becoming the Veneer Salesman’s Republic of New Gahania --- and, of course, the inevitable dogs playing poker.

Let’s celebrate government by the worst, least qualified and most unscrupulous citizens with a Burrito Kakistocratio (no, not castrato) from the plummeting depths of Taco Hell’s commanding vantage point around the corner from the butt ugly bison, below the strip mine, where the storm water roams and the campaign finance report is not cloudy all day.

I’ll have mine with a side of Incensed (Jim) Rice -- light on the MSG, the HWC and the complete BS, please.

---

Recent columns:

There was no column on May 31.

May 24: ON THE AVENUES: Long live Keg Liquors Fest of Ale, an indisputable annual beer institution.

May 17: ON THE AVENUES: Ghosts within these stones, defiance in these bones.

May 10: ON THE AVENUES: Seeing is believing.

May 3: ON THE AVENUES: Sadly, the Kentucky Derby no longer is decadent and depraved. It’s just another vacuous capitalist bait ‘n’ switch.

One week later, the newspaper reluctantly diverts its attention from cooking school and learns that "park site in New Albany draws concerns."

Each day, we see the ramifications of the News and Tribune's ongoing inability (unwillingness?) to hire a reporter for the New Albany city beat. It isn't just that the newspaper proves late to the table on the Cannon Acres/Native American story.

Many questions that might have been asked and should have been asked aren't, because staffers filling in aren't as familiar with the running story. That's why beat reporters cover a beat. Bill Hanson has a lot to answer for. Unfortunately, he emulates Jeff Gahan as it pertains to openness.

City Hall's case rests on architect Larry Timperman's openly stated reliance on a letter from the state of Indiana delineating what lies where at Cannon Acres. The letter references stages of archaeological examination conducted more than a decade ago. Timperman told WHAS-11 that planners in his position always trust the most recent letter.

But what if different, newer instructions were to be issued by the state? That's the crux of it. I'll have more on this later today in "Shane's Excellent New Words." If you're just tuning in, see NAC's "previous story" links below.

Park site in New Albany draws concerns, by Chris Morris

NEW ALBANY — Julia Youngblood and city officials agreed to disagree Tuesday morning as she walked out of the City-County Building.

Youngblood, Floyds Knobs, is concerned that the proposed dog park planned for Cannon Acres, which is off Budd Road, will disturb ancient Native American historic sites which includes artifacts and possible burials. But the two historic mounds identified by Indiana Department of Natural Resources Archaeologist Cathy Draeger-Williams won't be disturbed, according to David Duggins, director of Economic Development and Redevelopment for New Albany.

Duggins explained to Youngblood after the meeting that only fencing will be placed around the area designated for the dog park. He said there will be no digging or excavating on the site. There will also be gravel paths built to the dog park area at the park.

"We have have been respectful of the historic significance of the property," Duggins said.

Youngblood and Duggins, along with architect Larry Timperman and city engineer Larry Summers, talked for several minutes following Tuesday's Board of Works meeting.

---

Previously at NAC:

In unprecedented act of territorial pissing, outraged dogs gather to protest Native Americans.

Belatedly addressing the Cannon Acres dog park fiasco, Mayor Gahan insists he watched "Dances with Wolves" on the VCR over the weekend.

Tony Nava on WDRB: "Would we want to use a church grounds as a dog park?"

4:00 p.m. today: Citizens trying to save a Native American church from being used as an inappropriate and unnecessary dog park.

Commentary: Amid quintessential City Hall arrogance, a petition to "save the Cannon Acres Native American site."

Dog crap on a sacred area: Jeff Gahan moves timeline forward, with the desecration of a 3,000-6,000 Native American site to begin Monday.

An AWOL Jeff Gahan evades Native American activist seeking dialogue about potential site destruction at the dog park.

The city of New Albany may soon try to destroy a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Native American site to build a dog park.

In unprecedented act of territorial pissing, outraged dogs gather to protest Native Americans.

Belatedly addressing the Cannon Acres dog park fiasco, Mayor Gahan insists he watched "Dances with Wolves" on the VCR over the weekend.

"Native Americans just love Frisbee golf," said the mayor.

Gil Corsey offers a follow-up to last night's WDRB report. For the first time, Mayor Jeff Gahan has emerged from his down-low bunker, pushed David Duggins aside, and taken one himself.

Local Native Americans aim to protect New Albany's Cannon Acres Park from dog park plans

The city of New Albany wants to build a dog park on the land off Budd Road and Highway 111 as part of Mayor Jeff Gahan's recreational improvement plan.

"There's a Frisbee golf course here, as well as a dog park with a water feature," Gahan said. "A great place for people to enjoy with their family."

The city has already sketched the outline for the dog park, with orange flags dotting the land. Construction was supposed to start this week.

"Right now the last thing we'd want to do is be disrespectful to anyone," Gahan said.

There's more to come. Anyone seen the newspaper?

---

Previously at NAC:

Tony Nava on WDRB: "Would we want to use a church grounds as a dog park?"

4:00 p.m. today: Citizens trying to save a Native American church from being used as an inappropriate and unnecessary dog park.

Commentary: Amid quintessential City Hall arrogance, a petition to "save the Cannon Acres Native American site."

Dog crap on a sacred area: Jeff Gahan moves timeline forward, with the desecration of a 3,000-6,000 Native American site to begin Monday.

An AWOL Jeff Gahan evades Native American activist seeking dialogue about potential site destruction at the dog park.

The city of New Albany may soon try to destroy a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Native American site to build a dog park.

Tony Nava on WDRB: "Would we want to use a church grounds as a dog park?"

Above are views from yesterday's 4:00 p.m. media conference. Below is the link to WDRB's story. Follow the link to view the video. We're still transcribing the gurgling sounds emitted by Mayor Gahan in response.

New Albany residents worried Native American historical site may be turned into dog park

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Some New Albany residents are concerned that a Native American historical site will be turned into a dog park.

Tony Nava says archaeologists from the Department of Natural resources found artifacts belonging to the Shawnee and Mississippian tribes at the Cannon Acres Park. While a more extensive search has not been completed to determine if the area is a burial ground, he says either way it's disrespectful to have a dog go to the bathroom in an area that he considers sacred.

Previously at NAC:

4:00 p.m. today: Citizens trying to save a Native American church from being used as an inappropriate and unnecessary dog park.

Commentary: Amid quintessential City Hall arrogance, a petition to "save the Cannon Acres Native American site."

Dog crap on a sacred area: Jeff Gahan moves timeline forward, with the desecration of a 3,000-6,000 Native American site to begin Monday.

An AWOL Jeff Gahan evades Native American activist seeking dialogue about potential site destruction at the dog park.

The city of New Albany may soon try to destroy a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Native American site to build a dog park.

4:00 p.m. today: Citizens trying to save a Native American church from being used as an inappropriate and unnecessary dog park.

Local Native American activists are meeting the media today at 4:00 p.m. at 1933 Budd Road, which I take to mean the parking area of the soccer complex. 

For some readers, it may seem that the controversy surrounding the city's decision to construct a dog park atop a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Native American site has come out of nowhere. It hasn't. The Navas have been monitoring the disposition of the Cannon Acres land since the ideas for various parks were first minted more than a decade ago.

This is ongoing. The Navas do what they can, as they're able.

Meanwhile, the development of the dog park has taken place in the usual back corridors, largely out of sight, with no public meetings devoted to discussion, and a new found urgency to get the bulldozers moving once it was learned there would be principled opposition.

It's disgraceful.

Concurrently, there has been no groundswell of support for this dog park. It is being built in a place that is inappropriate, both by virtue of proximity to a Native American ceremonial site, and because it is completely removed from the urban center, where it might actually be useful.

Moreover, it's yet another sickening example of Team Gahan's utter refusal to communicate. Tony Nava wanted to speak to Mayor Jeff Gahan, and simply could not get past the gatekeepers. Gahan almost certainly would have responded to priests, pastors and rabbis if similar concerns were being voiced about their religious locales.

Gahan's response to Nava was to shunt the complaint to the economic development director, David Duggins, who has told all and sundry that the dog park is "his" project.

Entirely apart from the justified, long-term concerns of the Navas and their friends in the preservation community, how have we come to a juncture where the mayor won't speak to people, and the economic development director is in control of a parks project?   

Two things need to happen.

First, Gahan needs to realize that a Native American ceremonial site is as important as a boys high school basketball game, and that citizens need to be communicated WITH, as opposed to AT.

Second, the dog park project needs to be delayed, so as to afford Nava a fair hearing, and to stage a public meeting about the stakes involved with Gahan's decision to move forward with the inappropriate Cannon Acres site.

Shannon Nava has posted on Facebook.

---

So meanwhile ... while people sit in their pews this morning in their designated churches, my husband is trying to save our church from the city trying to build a public dog park. 

Some of you may not know this, but New Albany is trying to destroy a potentially 6000 year old CEREMONIAL Mississippian site. There have been archaeological digs, actually two phases. Currently, no bodies have been found BUT there have been significant finds, dating back to archaic times. 

Pottery shards with intricate archaic designs, derbage, arrowheads, FRC, hammer stones, and so much more have been found. If you have ever visited the land, you would have noticed three large mounds. They are pretty hard to miss even after over 100 years of plowing (it was a family farm,and the land was used for hay). 

They even found items that proved there were slave quarters, which we confirmed yesterday through a gentleman who has lived in the area for the entirety of his 65 years. 

Anthony has been working on saving this site since 2003. We know now that the city has misallocated funds from a federal grant to use for the phase two archaeological survey. 

So, sound off folks! How do you feel about this so called "public" dog park that community members will have to pay to be members to use? 

How do you feel about the city building a dog park over a significant American Indian historical site? 

How would you feel if you someone brought their dog into your church to take a crap? If you're not happy about it, like us ... meet us today at 1933 Budd Road, New Albany @ 4 o'clock to tell the press how you feel.

The city already have construction crews and their equipment waiting to get started moving earth first thing tomorrow (Monday) morning, after they promised they would wait three weeks to talk more to the native people.

Help us save it.

---

Previously at NAC:

Commentary: Amid quintessential City Hall arrogance, a petition to "save the Cannon Acres Native American site."

Dog crap on a sacred area: Jeff Gahan moves timeline forward, with the desecration of a 3,000-6,000 Native American site to begin Monday.

An AWOL Jeff Gahan evades Native American activist seeking dialogue about potential site destruction at the dog park.

The city of New Albany may soon try to destroy a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Native American site to build a dog park.

Commentary: Amid quintessential City Hall arrogance, a petition to "save the Cannon Acres Native American site."

Anthony Nava has started a petition at Change.org.

Petitioning State Representative Edward Clere (to) Save the Cannon Acres Native American site

Cannon Acres contains a 3,000 year old to present-day archaeological site. This is at risk due to the city wanting to build a dog park. If this happens we may lose this site forever. This site has been used by the Mississippian people to the woodland people of the Shawnee as well as a rich history that is local to New Albany.

At Fb, Nava was asked a relevant question.

Is there no state or federal law preventing this? I thought this kind of thing had to be thoroughly researched and approved if it involved a Native site.

His answer:

When it comes to Native rights we are second hand citizens. The NHPA is supposed to protect sacred sites but since the city is self-funded it's a loophole in the law, that they operate by the skin of their teeth. But if Federal monies are or were used to develop the site they would have to answer to sect 106 of the NHPA act.

The issue of the dog park/archaeological site arose prior to Thursday's city council meeting (see links here), following Nava's unsuccessful efforts to speak directly with Mayor Gahan about his concerns.

I noticed local architect Larry Timperman in attendance on Thursday night, sitting through the meeting without saying anything, and now it has been revealed that Timperman (the dog park designer?) was sent by City Hall to rebut objections to the dog park design that might arise should Nava or others attend the meeting.

It's dejà vu all over again.

Time after time, it's the same story. The more it becomes necessary for Gahan to lead, the less he is inclined to do so, and the more his handlers keep him swaddled, mummified, like the proverbial Russian baby. It's become almost comical.

Referencing another recent hot button issue: If rental property registration, inspection and enforcement really are such critical "musts," then why did four long years pass without Gahan lifting a finger to help the city's "vulnerable" renters, "as they are forced into sub-standard housing"?

Why did he fail to mention these vulnerable citizens at all during his re-election campaign?

And how could he not come in person to a city council meeting to make his rental reform case, and face the rental property owners in attendance?

Accordingly, Gahan might have spoken directly to Nava, and almost surely would have done so were Nava a priest, minister or rabbi -- you know, the sort of respectable religious personages who'd be safe to invite to your mayoral prayer breakfast.

Instead, Nava was shunted to David "Gatekeeper" Duggins, who is the city's economic development chieftain, and one whose energies might be devoted to filling the gaping hole formerly known as Pillsbury, rather than acting as dog park liaison.

Why is the minister of economics in charge of the city's park system?

City Hall also might have tackled Nava's objections head on, by releasing a statement detailing its side, or by having Timperman speak to the council in a pro-active, rather than sandbag passive, mode.

Why? Because openness and transparency play no role in "governance" as conducted from the white-bread, down-low bunker.

Meanwhile, six months have passed since the News and Tribune bothered to employ a New Albany beat reporter, and as this latest story has emerged, dozens of Clark County articles have been filed. An awards banquet trophy win has been trumpeted, a reality television show set in the Clark County jail lauded, and hundreds of ads about a cooking school (in Jeffersonville, of course) hoisted. The most recent New Albany council meeting was covered via press release and interview.

I do what I can, but it'd be nice to have some help every now and then. 

My goal at present is to find someone not already employed by the city to make the case for the dog park at Gahan's chosen Budd Road location. The mayor notoriously exaggerated a purported tidal wave of demand for aquatic center and parks project prioritized ahead of those vulnerable (take a number, take a seat -- I've got a pool to build) rental dwellers, but at least a handful of people tepidly showed support for water-borne recreation in some form or another.

However, I've yet to encounter a single instance of dog park advocacy undertaken in a public forum. 

I'll gladly turn over a blog post, sans editorial comment, to the first reader undertaking to explain the urgency of doggie recreation when the city's one-way streets continue to sap property values, degrade neighborhood quality of life, and contradict small business investment in downtown.

Meanwhile, Nava soldiers on.

Shouldn't Jeff Gahan speak with him? 

Dog crap on a sacred area: Jeff Gahan moves timeline forward, with the desecration of a 3,000-6,000 Native American site to begin Monday.

Dog crap on a sacred area: Jeff Gahan moves timeline forward, with the desecration of a 3,000-6,000 Native American site to begin Monday.

Previously at NAC:

The city of New Albany may soon try to destroy a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Native American site to build a dog park.

An AWOL Jeff Gahan evades Native American activist seeking dialogue about potential site destruction at the dog park.

Anthony Nava provides an update. According to Nava, the start of construction has been moved forward, to begin Monday, March 21.

OK, THIS WILL BE IN CAPS TO GET YOUR ATTENTION: THE CITY OF NEW ALBANY HAS MOVED THEIR TIME LINE FORWARD FOR THE DOG PARK. THIS MAY DESTROY A 3000-6000 YEAR OLD NATIVE CEREMONIAL SITE . PLEASE CALL CITY HALL MONDAY AND HAVE THEM STOP THIS DESECRATION OF A NATIVE SITE. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD, POST TO YOUR PAGE AND ANY WEBSITES YOU KNOW ASAP. LET'S TELL THE MAYOR AND THE CITY WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS DESTRUCTION OF HISTORY SO DOGS WILL HAVE A PLAY TO CRAP ON A SACRED SITE TO THE NATIVE PEOPLE OF THE AREA. CALL DAN CRISTIANI EXCAVATING TO NO DESTROY THIS SITE AS WELL.

An AWOL Jeff Gahan evades Native American activist seeking dialogue about potential site destruction at the dog park.

On Sunday, we became aware of a problem.

The city of New Albany may soon try to destroy a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Native American site to build a dog park.

Anthony Nava seems to be having problems getting calls through to Jeff Gahan's down-low bunker.

Well I finally got to talk with a rep from the city of New Albany ... sigh. They want to put us off until mid-April. I feel this is to give them time to move forward with their project. I think we need to act quickly before they have a chance to do so and possibly complete their project. I was told that they had the right to move forward but when I requested that the mayor and staff meet with the community I was shot down and my phone message to the mayor intercepted by other staff lower down in his department.

Readers, if you're feeling Nava's pain, please drop a line to your council representative. We wish him luck ... and too many of us know exactly how he feels trying to break through the security cordon.

The city of New Albany may soon try to destroy a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Native American site to build a dog park.

He'll put David Duggins right on it; after all, cultural desecration's just another form of economic development, isn't it?

The Mississippian site of which Anthony Nava speaks in his Fb post is the Cannon Acres Soccer Fields at 1933 Budd Road; specifically, he refers to the soon-to-be-built adjacent dog park, for which finding a visible proponent outside the dreary confines of Jeff Gahan's down-low bunker has been next to impossible.

If you have questions, please send them to me at the usual portals. I'll pass them along.

ATTN: NATIVE PEOPLE ...

The city of New Albany may soon try to destroy a 3,000 to 6,000 year old native site. I will need people to stand up and protest the city to stop the dog park that will destroy this site. so give me your feed back.

This problem has been going on for 8+ years. I've tried talking to the city of New Albany, but with no luck, because when new people are elected the city does not inform the new administration of the site. This is a soccer field located on the way to the casino, and if you're from this area you know there are many sites along the river that have burials and old camps.

This site has been reviewed by the Indiana department of archaeology, and the reports I have show there was a find but no burials.

The city wants to bulldoze a 3,000 to 6,000 year old Mississippian ceremonial platform that is not visible from the ground, though it can be seen clearly from the air (this is due to years of farming). I would like to show a presence and tell the city that it is wrong to destroy this site due to the historic value.

I feel this site along with others holds a larger story about our ancestors from the area and may be the next Angel Mounds site for this area, owing to a site less than a mile away that hold over 400 burials that is not well known to the public. If you have questions please message me. I will not disclose more than I've said here because of looters and grave robbers; sorry, but we need to protect those who can't be, including our dead.

Pat Harrison's Slumlord Uprising of 2008, 6/6: "Endangered Slumlord Protection Act? Local rental property mogul and realtor cites a 'pitiful' absence of tax breaks."

Eight years later, and it's déjà vu all over again as Pat Harrison prepares to defend our downtrodden slumlords against the Gestapo.

The following was originally published here on August 22, 2007.

1/6
2/6
3/6
4/6
5/6

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Endangered Slumlord Protection Act? Local rental property mogul and realtor cites a “pitiful” absence of tax breaks.

Back on August 12, the Tribune’s Chris Morris heeded the squeaky realtor’s wheel and considered the outer limits of the “American dream” (unlimited-horizon-free, New Albany-style):

Rental property owners in Clark, Floyd counties say enough is enough.

The idea sounds like a winner. You buy property, fix it up, find someone to rent it, and then sit back and collect the monthly check.

However, it’s not quite that simple, according to local Realtor Pat Harrison. In fact, she said what used to be the American dream of owning property has turned into a nightmare for many. The reason, she said, is property owners are being taxed to death.

“This state is not giving any kind of tax break on commercial and investment property. It’s pitiful,” Harrison said.

Chris didn't intend to be insightful, but his line, "sit back and collect the monthly check," is a classic.

Why do we get the sneaking suspicion that the next grinding trench warfare phase of trying to bring New Albany’s enduring “slumlord protection program” into line with the dictates of the 21st century will inevitably revolve around fanatical opposition (vigilance with Bics in hand, just itching to flick) to absolutely necessary rental inspection reform, on the spurious grounds that extreme poverty caused by Harrison’s “pitiful” absence of tax breaks should absolve owners of adhering to community standards?

We can hear the tune already, and it is discordant -- and dysfunctional -- as ever.

ON THE AVENUES: A year later, the backroom politics of pure spite at Haughey’s Tavern still reek.

ON THE AVENUES: A year later, the backroom politics of pure spite at Haughey’s Tavern still reek.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

In September of 2014, the city of New Albany demolished the historic Haughey’s Tavern building at 922 Culbertson Avenue. There'll be more explanatory links at the conclusion, but for now, here's an overview from the archives.

Oct 2, 2014: ON THE AVENUES: Now on tap at the ghost of Haughey’s Place: The politics of pure spite.

The vacant space subsequently was folded into pre-existing and thoroughly secretive plans for erecting six New Directions houses, which have since been completed, and form one of Jeff Gahan’s re-election platform planks – this being a prime reason the potted events occurred in the first place.

Four of the new houses are in a row across Culbertson from the ghost of Haughey’s, and two occupy the tavern’s decimated footprint.

Let’s try not to forget the central point, one consistently obscured by Team Gahan’s relentless, PAC-financed and self-serving propaganda machine: Haughey’s Tavern might have been saved and rehabilitated into the sort of street corner anchor that these two new houses are utterly incapable of being, now or ever.

After all, Haughey’s did it for more than 125 years, with various occupants surviving floods, tornadoes, ice storms and changing times ... until Gahan's suburban-over-urban logic came along.

There are numerous vacant spaces nearby where houses might yet be built, and in fact, since this disgraceful act unfolded behind closed door last year, the city has yet to present a coherent plan for affordable infill housing – at 922 Culbertson, or anywhere else.

This shameful absence only continues to be accentuated by the shameless non-public process prefacing the unnecessary Haughey’s demolition.

Just as there is much to be learned by any human society’s treatment of its most challenged members, we can derive insight as to the behavioral patterns of the Gahan administration in recalling this story, which is not for the faint of heart.

The narrative that follows is based on several composite sources. Some people directly involved spoke to me about the experience, but given the mayor’s vengeful tendencies, they would not do so for attribution. If anyone mentioned herein objects to my characterization, I'll retract it, though I think it's accurate. Maybe some day we'll have investigative journalism hereabouts.

Conversely, when I filed a formal “freedom of information” request with municipal "corporate attorney" Shane Gibson for e-mails, these were promptly provided … and not a single one of them involved the mayor.

That’s right. Not even one.

Do you believe Jeff Gahan did not send a single e-mail pertaining to this issue during the time period requested?

My guess is that he did, but did not use his official city e-mail account, and instead wrote for attribution via a private e-mail address – one at a server lying conveniently outside the realm of public record requests like the one I made.

If you believe that Gahan did not utter a single electronic communication about the Haughey’s debacle, then I have an Ohio River Bridge for purchase.

On layaway.

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During the run-up to the demolition, the city of New Albany never openly listed the Haughey’s building in any coherent manner that might have enticed developers to inquire. It was not marketed, and there was no effort to arrive at independent verification of the building’s structural condition.

Nevertheless, local developer Steve Resch examined the building and made an offer. He never believed the “dilapidated” party line espoused by City Hall’s minions (David Brewer and David Duggins prominent among them), and thought the building was salvageable.

Resch apparently thought he had a deal, to include the city and Indiana Landmarks combining resources with him in an amount previously discussed even before his offer was made, as intended to make possible a complete stabilization and exterior repair.

After that, Resch would wait for a tenant, and then finish the interior to spec on his own dime. His estimate of the total cost of rehabilitation was one-half to one-third less than that suggested by the minions – who never once explained their numbers publicly.

No sooner than Resch thought it was done deal, the rug was pulled out from beneath him. The only transparent, clear and publicly apparent instigator at the time was 1st district councilman Dan Coffey – in whose district the address is NOT located – who subbed for the AWOL 3rd district councilman Greg Phipps and constantly insisted to all and sundry that the building must come down.

Why?

Two sources told me that with county elections coming in November, 2014, and with Coffey mounting an ill-fated campaign for commissioner, he’d concocted a campaign financing deal with CCE/Eastridge, a deal that depended on the Haughey’s Tavern demolition to funnel the appropriate percentage toward Coffey’s campaign.

Coffey didn’t even get 40% of the vote – and a building that cannot be replaced subsequently disappeared.

It’s worth noting that during Doug England’s final term, CCE/Eastridge constantly was on the hot seat, prompting numerous neighborhood complaints about its toxic (literally) operations where Silver Street Park eventually was built with TIF bonds after the city bought the property for a princely sum.

Yes, from CCE/Eastridge.

Nowadays CCE/Eastridge is the beneficiary of prime governmental largess, including numerous demolition contracts, many of which emanate from The Redevelopment Commission, upon which both Coffey and Adam Dickey (the Democratic Party chairman and a vocal proponent of serial historic property demolition) are seated.

Coincidence or conflict of interest?

Always.

There was a lonely voice on Redevelopment advocating for sense and sensibility, but as usual, John Gonder was ignored.

One probable reason for CCE/Eastridge’s newfound preferential treatment has less to do with Coffey and more to its ownership of ground by the river needed by the city to complete the 8th-through-18th stretch of the Ohio River Greenway.

That’s right: A project that goes straight through the Redevelopment Commission.

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At some point during the spring or early summer of 2014, local Landmarks head Greg Sekula spotted the down-low demolition order, and called Gahan seeking an intervention.

Evidently Gahan initially indicated he was receptive, then began badgering Sekula into asking instead for a Horseshoe Foundation grant. This Sekula did, but when the Horseshoe meeting took place, Gahan sat impassively, refusing to motion, afterward remarking to Sekula that it didn’t matter.

According to Gahan, the board he so regularly maligns wouldn’t consider it, anyway, so why bother? We can surmise that the deal already was done at this point, but Ceausescu -- oops, Gahan -- wasn’t finished yet.

Following the Horseshoe fiasco, Gahan complained about Sekula to the head office of Landmarks, and in essence, tried to get him disciplined or fired. This did not occur, primarily because Sekula had done nothing untoward apart from trying to do his job, as opposed to appeasing Gahan's ego.

These phone calls jibe with stories told by other informants, who point to Gahan’s fundamental and recurring vindictiveness, and his zeal in this instance to show preservationists like Sekula exactly who’s the boss in this town.

Previously I sent e-mails to New Directions asking when the infill plan we see now was originally minted. The chronology matters, but New Directions never answered these e-mails.

At the time, there were regular rumors to the effect that Habitat for Humanity had a deal in place prior to the Haughey’s demolition, which Habitat dismissed – but the rumors themselves suggest the existence of some sort of pre-arranged outcome, even as the other subplots dropped into place.

No sooner than Haughey's came down than Gahan announced the partnership with New Directions to construct his platform planks.

From top to bottom, the fate of Haughey’s smells of an arrogant absence of due process, even a year later. The suburban niceness of the houses standing there now jars with ironic dissonance as one learns how they came into being, because ends do not justify means, and transparent processes really do matter.

Unfortunately, an arrogant usurpation of due process is the way Gahan rolls. For more, read this five-part series from August of 2014.

Let’s not let an atrocity like this happen again.

"Tear It Down," Sayeth the Councilman, Part 1: The rudderless newspaper squanders another 922 Culbertson opportunity, but an informative chat occurs, anyway.

"Tear It Down," Sayeth the Councilman, Part 2: "Just how has this been a corrupt process?" Hint: Secretive nonsense.

"Tear It Down," Sayeth the Councilman, Part 3: A civilian's due diligence as to 922 Culbertson's possibilities.

"Tear It Down," Sayeth the Councilman, Part 4: "I say do the work for which you're being paid."

"Tear It Down," Sayeth the Councilman, Part 5: The ghost of Orwell enjoys a pint at Haughey's Place.

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Recent columns:

October 28: ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: How many businesses already have died because of City Hall’s street grid procrastination?

October 26: ON THE AVENUES EXTRA: Gahan says speeding sucks, but street safety can wait until after he is re-elected.

October 22: ON THE AVENUES: My career as a double naught capitalist.

October 19: ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: Courtesy bicycle to the Hotel Silly (2010, 2013).

October 15: ON THE AVENUES: To the New Albanians, each and every one.

October 8: ON THE AVENUES: There’s an indie twist to this curmudgeon’s annual Harvest Homecoming column.

October 1: ON THE AVENUES: No more fear, Jeff.

September 24: ON THE AVENUES: Almost two years later, Mr. Gahan has yet to plug in this clock, and so it's time for him to clock out.

September 17: ON THE AVENUES: Dear Neighbor: If you’re tired of the same old story, turn some pages.

September 10: ON THE AVENUES: Lanesville Heritage Weekend comes around again.

September 3: ON THE AVENUES: When even Mitt Romney can run to the left of New Albany’s Democrats, it's a very big problem.

Make no mistake: Jeff Gahan is the "driving force" behind the Bored of Works' inability to fathom street pianos, public art and modernity itself.

There always are self-assigned community pillars who believe it is their solemn duty to safeguard the community from terroristic threats, such as that posed by a painted piano on a downtown street corner.

In their interior worlds, where Velvet Elvii and Happy Meals define the very extent of artistic aspiration, there is a mortal fear that "respectable" folks will laugh at them for allowing modes of expression that cannot by categorized by dull conformity, and worse yet, expression that resists being linked to the address on the campaign committee flier for the express purpose of gathering the monies necessary for the next campaign, from whence their need to control ultimately derives.

When in reality, these officious guardians of neutered conformity are the ones being laughed at. In fact, they're plain silly, and getting even sillier. That they're Democrats makes me laugh even harder.

Daniel Suddeath explains that in New Albany, surreal small-pond bureaucratic Philistinism is an inexorably expanding universe: New Albany again delays street piano request.

It's been highly instructive to observe the Bored of Works contriving one bumbling excuse after another to cover for its down-low orders to maintain proper channels for expression.

We don't understand this art ... OMG, who'll tune the piano? ... wait, ask the preservation people for their permission, 'cuz, you know, the piano is old ... no, how about Develop New Albany -- yeah, that's right (chortles in corridor afterward), DNA does all that goofy merchant support stuff we see going on even as we're driving out to the Cracker Barrel in Sellersburg.

Earth to the Bored: DNA has, er, WHAT to do with any of this?

What's next, Warren V Nash?

Ask Animal Control?

Jeeves?

The Oracle at Delphi?

Tell you what: I'll personally make Hannegan's mandated "Gahan for Mayor" campaign donation FOR HER, even though I'm running against him, if that would somehow help you arrive at a position somewhere proximate to a CLUE.

Jeeebus. It's an art project and a street piano. Exactly what does nuclear physics have to do with it?

Of course, if Hannegan had only let the mayor think it was his idea, then we'd have a street piano on every corner in town -- player pianos, that is, just to make sure no one departed from the chosen street music and the top-down sacred political writ.

Here are previous NAC links to the street piano saga.

Life is like a street piano. What the Bored of Works gets out of it depends on how they "nay" it.

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 95: It's the return of 18-wheeler pinup porn and utter Bored of Works indifference.

Seattle alleys, New Albany street pianos and the overdue purging of bureaucrats.

The Green Mouse says: Is the historic Coyle building really on the chopping block?

Making waves on the rumorama: High-ranking New Albany officials are celebrating the forthcoming sale of the Coyle property on Spring Street by acknowledging that if the sale goes through, every building comes down -- including the historic front-piece on Spring.

Imbibing minds want to know: Did CM Scott Blair really refer to this impending demolition as a "no-brainer," "quality of life" issue?

The Annex remains a litmus test for local political Philistines.

From Chuck's historic "society" through Seabrook's "limbo," those of our elected officials who routinely treat creativity as though it were the latest incarnation of Ebola provide an illustration of the "leadership" vacuum in this county.

Floyd County's North Annex future in question; Building will be shuttered Oct. 15, by Chris Morris ('Bama Pop-Up Generator)

 ... “We have given the preservation group a lot of time and nothing has come to fruition. We have to decide if we want to keep it or demolish it,” said Commissioners’ President Steve Bush. “We’ve been talking about this since we were talking about building a new youth shelter. I do not think the county has any plans to put offices out there. I think we have done our due diligence.”

JAY-sus, can we please have leadership for 2011, not 1961?

Here's Floyd County Council retro pasha Ted Heavrin on the best future of the Annex, sidestepping yet again the possibility he most desires, that of chewing up and spitting out 18 acres of Community Park at the behest of the Philistines, because after all, why not let planner Don Lopp speak for the Council instead of the ones who for some unknown reason were elected to office?

"I’ve always talked about (how) that would make a great place for senior housing” or student housing because the site is directly across the street from Walmart and near movie theaters and other commercial development, Heavrin said.

Is it any wonder that local Republicans and Democrats are indistinguishable? Go and get your cleanest dirty barf bags, and read more of Harold Adams's article here.

NASH: "Creative planning needed for new youth shelter."

Matt, let me help you: It's because that's what Philistines do!

NASH: Creative planning needed for new youth shelter

Their first plan was to destroy the former Floyd County Home, also known as the North Annex, a historic building constructed in 1878. Their latest plan is to destroy an integral part of Sam Pedan Community Park. Can the people in charge of building this new facility do so without destroying something that is important to many of the citizens in our county?

The developer, the ordinance, his sister and her vote ... buy now and get bonus photos and a "REWIND" for the same low price.

The Tribune’s front page headline couldn’t have said it any clearer:

New Albany Councilwoman votes in favor of brother’s development, by Daniel Suddeath.

Developer Gary McCartin didn’t get what he was after at Monday’s New Albany City Council meeting, but he did get a little help from his sister.

For the second time since being elected, council member Diane McCartin-Benedetti did not abstain from voting on a proposed zoning change that involved her brother.

For what I really think about the apostle of suburban/exurban cookie-cutter development, otherwise known as Gary McCartin, see the “REWIND” below, which follows a few photos from the most recent council defeat suffered by the rapidly eroding former monolith.

As for his sister’s council vote, I’m told that she continues to insist that there is no conflict of interest if she has no direct pipeline to monetary gain from the ordinance in question. While that may be true in the strictest of senses, and I doubt it, the councilwoman’s tacking to the very lowest standard of ethical propriety reveals an incomprehension of reality that’s fairly alarming.

Perhaps the council president might whisper a few words in her ear … and while he’s at it, wield the magic gavel a bit more often when Dan Coffey mounts a Luddite filibuster.

Here are the photos, followed by the commentary.

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REWIND: Imagination Atrophy Syndrome, downtown churches, the "right facilities," and the "wrong" developer.

(Originally published on August 5, 2007)

Last week I was part of a conversation between two fellow “improve downtown New Albany” community activists, and one mentioned the numerous opportunities he'd had to network with downtown Louisville property developers while one and all were enjoying arts events at Louisville’s Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center.

Interrupting was hard to resist, but other than a muffled harrumph, I managed to keep my thoughts to myself:

“Gee, wouldn’t it be something if one day New Albany and Floyd County’s monochromatic, knee-jerk exurban developing caste were spotted congregating at trendy arts events? At look-a-like Cracker Barrels, maybe; at a swill-choked, charred-wiener-laden tailgate party for a football game, certainly; but photo exhibitions, courtyard art displays and performances?”

Seems unlikely, doesn’t it?

But I’m serene, and remain delighted to have provided posterity and future archivists with so many vivid examples of the complicity of New Albany’s and Floyd County’s land and property developers in perpetuating our most enduring collective cognitive civic malady: Imagination Atrophy Syndrome.

Recently I described this affliction in the context of the city's non-existent accommodation for bicycling:

And that’s because New Albany’s collective 800-lb gorilla, and the ultimate source of the psychosis that so degrades all our future prospects, is an utter failure on the part of government and citizenry alike to muster any degree of comprehension as to what is occurring in the larger world that lies outside their own exceedingly narrow comfort zones.

Consequently, it isn’t just that so many drivers don’t ride bicycles and lack any semblance of understanding of the issues explicated so clearly by Daniel Robison, it’s that they can’t even imagine doing so and moreover cannot imagine life outside the confines of an automobile – and if they can’t imagine it, then how could anyone else? It follows that those who are able to imagine it must be mistaken, defective, or both, and any person sighted on a bicycle must be either too poor to afford a car or restricted to riding a bike because of a mental illness, DUI conviction, bad personal credit or contrarian tendencies …

When it comes to the local kingpins of construction, there’s certainly a paucity of constructive imagination to go around ... and around ... and around. NA Confidential gave lengthy consideration to a veritable "Exhibit A" in this January, 2006 essay:

The Gary: An excess of pure, unadulterated ego? Perhaps tolerable in the exurban sprawl, but not relevant to downtown New Albany.

While readers are strongly encouraged to navigate the link above and read the original piece in its entirety, I’ll cut to the chase and reprint the conclusion below. Nothing has happened during the 18 months since then that might lead me to doubt the veracity of this assessment, but I do sometimes wonder: Who’ll be the local developer who finally decides to think outside the self-imposed box and is the first to contribute a signature project in the New Urbanist mold to New Albany’s downtown?

Or must we look outside Floyd County to Louisville or elsewhere to find the vigorous imagination necessary for such an overdue event to occur?

Rewind to January, 2006, beginning with an newspaper excerpt from Amany Ali, then a reporter for the Tribune …

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(Ali) … Not everyone is convinced that Scribner Place will be the great catalyst for downtown New Albany. Longtime developer Gary McCartin doesn’t think people are interested in living downtown. And he doesn’t think a YMCA will entice people to do so …

… Instead, he thinks people would rather have a yard and live near their church and other conveniences …

… McCartin reviewed the plans for Scribner Place when they were originally introduced by former Mayor Regina Overton.

“My expertise told me it was not a winner,” he said.

McCartin thinks there is hope for downtown. He thinks city officials should use their power of eminent domain to tear down some buildings and determine what would be best to erect. He thinks some part of the downtown could be utilized for discount-priced retailers.

“It’s (about) getting the right facilities,” he said.

(NAC) We’d be wasting precious column inches to dissect The Gary’s views line by line; instead, let’s consider just one of his assertions.

Between the foot of Silver Hills and the Silver Creek watercourse, using the Ohio River as the southern boundary and Culbertson as the northern, how many churches are in operation?

Our guess is somewhere around two dozen, ranging in size from St. Mary’s (Roman Catholic) to a handful of tiny, storefront Protestant congregations.

Therefore, according to The Gary’s own stated “logic,” there should be several hundred people desirous of residency downtown, to be “near their church.”

But that’s not what The Gary was saying, is it?

Isn’t he really speaking in the exurban demographic code, with class- and race-based implications fairly obvious?

We think so.

What (Donald) Trump -- uh, McCartin -- is saying with such transparent inelegance, smirking whilst pretending to dispense “expertise” to the same city planners and public officials he is maligning because he feels they aren’t permitting him have “his way” in pending development cases, most prominently that of the Green Valley Road medical office complex that has run afoul both of the decidedly residential neighborhood where it is to sited and the local officials in charge of planning and zoning, is that people just like HIM want houses just like HIS close to the church that HE attends, with quick and easy access to chain stores HE built and the Interstate highways connecting the sprawl that HE and his ilk have engendered.

Obnoxious? Yes. Arrogant? Perhaps.

But fair enough when it comes to the way of life in the exurb. Our advocacy of those principles that have coalesced under the “New Urbanism” banner does not preclude a fundamental “to each his own” when it comes to a preference for ideological conformity and suburban sprawl – and there are any number of Gary McCartins lining up outside our doors to help these cookie cutter dreams come true.

But McCartin’s self-aggrandizing profession and the precepts that he wields like spiked clubs to help further it mean little or nothing to those who prefer the urban experience and seek its expansion and improvement, and for McCartin to blithely assert that the best solution for revitalizing downtown is to cast it in the mold of his trademark projects in the suburbs and exurbs is the height of self-inflated folly – and, given the proofs afforded us by the successful growth of urban communities elsewhere, it is palpably untrue.

In the end, The Gary probably knows this just as well as the rest of us do.

The words he spoke to Amany Ali were not offered with any sincere intent to contribute to a solution, or even to be an honest broker in any accepted sense of the idea, but as a means of jousting for advantage with his perceived enemies, while providing our local Luddite obstructionists with a convenient pull quote to wave in the air during public speaking time at council meetings.

In the end, The Gary turns out to be little more than another playground bully, and as such, small wonder that he and Councilman Cappuccino have formed an alliance to denigrate downtown New Albany’s best hope for success in many decades, understanding that a guerrilla war of petty obfuscation and delaying tactics might somehow succeed in halting projects like Scribner Place, leaving an expanse of open ground where the buildings already have been knocked down sans the need for messy eminent domain actions … in the councilman’s home district … just a big, empty place to build a big, new building or two of the sort that people like The Gary really want.

Perhaps then, owing to these "advantageous" McCartinesque circumstances, we’d get our big-box discounter on West Main, with an ample pool of Coffeyite customers to be drawn from the poverty-stricken inhabitants of the inner city – confined to living near their churches, and not sullying the neat lawns and social order in the New Albanian exurb, the one that expresses so very well the ethical limitations inherent in growth for the sake of growth -- the ideology of the cancer cell -- taking precedence over the interests of society as a whole.

To summarize, there are many people currently engaged in consideration of these interests as they apply to downtown revitalization, and as The Gary now has illustrated, albeit inadvertently, the single best way to proceed with the plan for this revitalization is to accept that downtown must be remade as differently as possible from the exurb -- which is to say, we must pursue the polar opposite of any path recommended by The Gary.

Hey, thanks for the encouragement, Mr. McCartin. Your "expertise" has proven quite useful, after all.